Skip to main content

Summer Construction Projects Planned at Mississippi College


Roofing work at Jennings Hall is one of several projects in the weeks and months ahead at Mississippi College.

Jennings Hall roof repairs, construction of East Campus residential units, and improvements for a student eatery are among several projects planned this summer at Mississippi College.

Work will also continue on the new residence for President Lee Royce and his wife Rhoda, that overlooks Olde Towne Clinton. The Royces are expected to move in sometime in August, MC officials say.

With MC alumnus Don Phillips and his wife, Sue, providing a generous lead gift, the spacious residence will be known as the Phillips House. On the site of the former Hilltop theater, the facility will be a popular spot to entertain Mississippi College faculty, staff, students, alumni and guests for decades to come.

Construction workers will be almost as visible as Mississippi College students this summer. Workers will renovate restrooms and showers at Whittington and Chrestman residence halls, among other projects, on the Clinton campus.

 Renovations at Hampsteads, the student eatery near Alumni Hall, will make it more like a convenient place for them to relax between classes, and less like a fast-food restaurant. The changes will bring several new pieces of furniture and provide for more seating.

Typically, the summer months on the Clinton campus provide “the essential time to get in and repair facilities & equipment we are not able to address during the regular academic year,” says Steve Stanford, vice president for administration and government affairs.

The construction of eight new residential housing units on the East Campus that was formerly Clinton Junior High will take about twelve months. The new units should be ready for students to move in for the Fall 2015 semester starting in August.

Other MC projects are just about completed, including the Mike Rice Baseball Field House, nearby Frierson Field.

 It will include a locker room, coaches offices, training facilities, and equipment space. The facility is named for the 1977 Mississippi College alumnus who serves as president of Master Boat Builders of Coden, Alabama. An MC Choctaws baseball star when he played in the Gulf South Conference, Rice was among the nation’s leading collegiate home run hitters.

The facility gives MC athletics a boost as the university makes the transition to rejoin the Gulf South Conference and NCAA Division II this fall.

The improvements at Jennings Hall this summer are part of $3 million in roof repairs scheduled for Mississippi College buildings over the next few years, Stanford said.